Preap v. Johnson, No. 14-16326 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, lawful permanent residents who have committed a crime that could lead to removal and are subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. 1226(c), filed a class action petition for habeas relief. At issue is whether an alien must be detained without bond even if he has resettled into the community after release from criminal custody. If the answer is no, then the alien may still be detained, but he may seek release in a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. 1226(a) by showing that he poses neither a risk of flight nor a danger to the community. The court concluded that the statute unambiguously imposes mandatory detention without bond only on those aliens taken by the AG into immigration custody “when [they are] released” from criminal custody. And because Congress’s use of the word “when” conveys immediacy, the court concluded that the immigration detention must occur promptly upon the aliens’ release from criminal custody. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's class certification order and preliminary injunction.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel affirmed the district court’s class certification order and preliminary injunction in a class action habeas petition brought by criminal aliens subject to mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c). The panel held that under the plain language of 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c), the government may detain without a bond hearing only those criminal aliens it takes into immigration custody promptly upon their release from the triggering criminal custody. The panel specified that it was holding that the mandatory detention provision of § 1226(c) applies only to those criminal aliens detained promptly after their release from criminal custody, not to those detained long after.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 1, 2019.
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